Explanation: The Meatbags
and the backdrop featured in this story are characters and events
from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and the Halo video games
and novels. Its always been a hope of mine to write a Halo/KOTOR
crossover and I'll give this one a try I suppose. Mainly in the Halo
universe shortly after the Fall of Reach (The first game.) Also set
right before Malak's betrayal of Revan in the KOTOR universe. To
clarify Malak still has his jaw.

Prologue: Forerunners and
Infinite Empires

The Flood, a terrible and
relentless parasite was the creation of the Forerunners, a group of
technologically advanced alien beings that predated all other
intelligent life within the Milky Way Galaxy. In their simplest
form, the Flood resemble pale yellow-green pods with tentacled limbs
that allow them to scuttle and leap across the ground. The more
complex second form of the flood occurs when the pod attaches itself
to a living being of a larger size who's DNA matches the pod's
preference. Merging with the living being, the Flood pod burrows
itself deep within the chest cavity of the being and in a slow and
agonizing process, takes over the being's life functions. If
permitted to fester and grow, the Flood can adapt to new forms, large
carrier pods which explode on contact, sending the smaller pod forms
out to attack and take over whatever matches they can find who's DNA
is compatible and free of disease. The Forerunners genetically
engineered the Flood to assimilate the knowledge of its host forms,
allowing the infectious beings the rare ability given to few
artificial life forms. The ability to adapt and learn.

At first, the weapon, used
on an alien invader from another galaxy who's ships and weapons and
numbers vastly surpassed the Forerunners was a great success. With
the Flood infecting and killing and controlling its victims, it
quickly decimated the invading forces of the alien imperium known
simply as the Infinite Empire, who's borders spanned many galaxies.
Confined to their own galaxy by lack of technology and their relative
youth on a universal calender, the Forerunners remained behind in
their home while the Infinite Empire retreated from the horrible
disease that decimated their forces. In an attempt to destroy the
Flood, the Rakatans, as the masters of the Infinite Empire were
called created a deadly virus that killed all who held the correct
genetic markers to allow Flood transplantation. The effect of
the Infinite Empire's new defense was instant. Untold billions of
Rakatans fell ill and lost their connection to the power that allowed
them supremacy over the lesser sentients of their galaxies. A
terrible miscalculation created a virus that killed only Rakatans
holding the genetic markers and as it spread through the four
galaxies under the control of the Infinite Empire, killing the
Masters, it left the slaves and lesser sentient beings the
machinations of their former Masters. Using the Rakatan's weapons
against them, the slaves revolted and overthrew what few remained of
the Rakatans after the terrible malady passed over their corner of
the universe.

With their enemies
defeated, the Forerunners celebrated and in their joy left the Flood
unchecked. The Flood adapted to the violent nature of its choice
host form, the Rakatans and soon began attacking lesser creatures and
adding to their numbers before turning and devouring their creators.
Unable to reason with the parasite, the Forerunners retreated from
their creation, given violent glimpses of the horror they had sent
against their enemies. The Masters became the food for the parasite
as it expanded, consuming the Milky Way and the core.

In a desperate attempt to
stop their creation, the Forerunners created the great ringworlds.
Weapons filled with vibrant plant and animal life to attract the
Flood to them. Deep within the bowels of the artificial ringworlds,
the Forerunners hid in their refuge, drawing the Flood in until they
activated the ringworlds. From the ringworlds rose a great tide of
energy, burning the Flood to ash and moving outward to all corners of
the galaxy, consuming the deadly parasite as well as its food.
Emerging from their shielded havens, the Forerunners were assaulted
from the few Flood forms that had reached the interior of the
ringworlds and soon became the new hosts to the Flood. Measures had
been taken, however and the underground facilities deep within the
ringworlds sealed the Flood within, their artificial intelligent
monitors moving within the facility and driving the Flood to holding
cells, where they hoped to study the parasite for the reasons for its
rebellion from their masters. Over time, the Forerunners became
nothing more than dust and the only monument to their passing left
behind, the ringworlds and their great, forgotten cities that dotted
the galaxy.

In another galaxy, far
away from the self-created apocalypse of the Forerunners, humans
taken from a primitive world in the Forerunner's home galaxy rose in
the ashes of the Infinite Empire, using their Master's technology to
settle on countless planets and after many millennia the origins were
forgotten, the human and the alien slaves of the Infinite Empire
forgot their harsh enslavement and became the masters of their
galaxy, free of the Flood. Over time, the power that the Infinite
Empire's masters wielded also fell into the hands of its former
slaves and the Force as it became known in their home galaxy brought
forth great champions and great villains, each wielding the power of
the Force and twisting other's and their surroundings to their needs.

In the Milky Way, the home
of the Forerunners, an alien force rose in the ashes of the
ringworlds' destructive wake. The Covenant Hegemony rose slowly, its
founders a highly intelligent but physically weak alien life form
that came to call itself the Prophets. First to join the ranks of
the Covenant Hegemony were the towering aliens that occupied the
Prophet's section of the galaxy, the largest being called Brutes and
the smaller became known as Elites. Powerful and ruthless beings
driven by love for war and religious fervor that bordered on insanity
they became the backbone of the Covenant. Next to fall under the
Covenant's holy hand were the Jackals, a bird-like alien biped with
limited intelligence but ruthless cunning. After the bird-like
Jackals came the hulking Hunters and the insectoid Drones, floating
pods known only as Engineers and small, canine-like bipedal Grunts,
each holding a purpose within the Covenant and each loyal to the
death to their holy brotherhood.

On the other end of the
galaxy the only other group of sentient life rose from their
primitive world and conquered dead worlds, terra forming them to
their needs and creating hundreds of colonies that spanned their
section of the galaxy for nearly four centuries unchallenged. The
humans of Earth, a relatively young planet to which the species was
indigenous; moved steadily across a dead galaxy, bringing life to
worlds cleared of it by the Forerunner's desperate last stand. The
Covenant and the Humans; humans who eventually and often times
reluctantly formed under a banner of Earth, uncovered the great
facilities of the Forerunners, the humans finally knowing they were
not alone, though suspecting the creators of the great devices and
cities were long dead and the Covenant, finding a new dogma to
follow. The Forerunners became a curiosity to the still quickly
advancing humans and gods to the steadily growing yet slowly changing
Covenant. Earth's military, the UNSC, United Nations Space Command,
their protectors and enforcers patrolled the many human colonies that
struggled and expanded within the galaxy, often times forced into
violent solutions to often times trivial problems. It was inevitable
that the two organizations would meet and upon sight of the humans,
the Covenant killed them, their religion demanding the humans pay for
desecrating the holy relics and cities of the holy Forerunners and
interfering with the Great Journey, the Covenant's road to the
paradise their gods, the Forerunners took.

In the year 2525 by the
Earth Military calender and set during the Covenant's 9th age of
Reclamation, the inevitable war between the Covenant and Humanity
began. Harvest, a relatively new colony to humankind held a
population of three million and with the arrival of the Covenant
battle group which consisted of seven, perhaps eight ships, dropped
quickly to zero at the Covenant's subsequent glassing of the world.
Six years would pass before the UNSC would launch a counterattack to
the Covenant's invasion. Twenty ships under the command of Vice
Admiral Preston Cole jumped into the Harvest system in 2531 and
assaulted the Covenant Forces, emerging victorious in the end, with
the complete destruction of the Covenant force and the loss of all
but a third of the UNSC vessels. It would be a bitter, and hard won
victory for humanity and the first on a short list that would grow
shorter when compared to their defeats over the next two decades as
the war moved on, a slow extermination of the human Outer colonies as
the Covenant made its way towards the human stronghold of Reach and
the human home world of Earth.

Galaxies away, the relics
left behind by the Infinite Empire were changed to meet the needs of
the newly growing galaxy. Wars of countless casualties and massive
scales brewed and were fought and won and lost and time went on as
the years passed, until at the end of one such war, a small group of
that war's heroes, Jedi Knights as they were called, stumbled upon
the centerpiece of the Infinite Empire, the Star Forge. The mighty
structure of the Star Forge dominated the Rakatan system and even
though thousands of years had passed, so to did the dark side of the
Force. So powerful was the influence of the dark side of the Force
that the heroes of the previous war, known as the Mandalorian wars;
swore fealty to the symbol of evil in their galaxy. They swore
fealty to a Sith Lord who rose amongst them and called himself Darth
Revan.

It was not only the dark
history of the Rakatan system that clouded the judgement of those
Jedi Knights, but also the influence of the True Sith, beings of
great power and skill and hatred, who's memory extended much farther
into the past than those of the young Jedi whom they fought so
furiously with for control over the Star Forge. So long, was the
memory of the Sith's primitive ancestors, who recalled a great enemy
that threatened the might of the Infinite Empire that it intrigued
Darth Revan, the former hero and High General of the Republic's Third
Fleet. At the behest of Revan, the Sith turned their swords against
the Republic they had once defended and in their eyes suddenly seemed
so small and insignificant. In the pursuit of this war they turned
their eyes to the ancient knowledge of the Rakatans, searching ever
deeper for the secrets that led to the race's destruction in the
hopes of turning it against the True Sith and the Republic.

The mirror image of the
Sith Empire Darth Revan created to taunt and strike fear into the
hearts of the True Sith remained dominant of the protected Rakatan
system, a planetary disruptor field protecting the system from
invasion from space. Two years of open warfare with the Republic
would pass as the Sith Empire of Darth Revan rose almost
unchallenged. After months of toiling and searching for the remnants
of the ancient knowledge left behind, an unlikely location granted
them the key to their ancient puzzle. On the frozen world of Rhen
Var, there existed an ancient library which was buried deep under the
ice plains of the once Sith Lord and Jedi Knight Ulic Qel-Droma's
final resting place. In that library was rumored to be a weapon that
could destroy all life in the galaxy, in the universe and in search
of that device, Darth Revan's Sith Empire unearthed an ancient device
and an ancient map that led to another galaxy that promised a means
to defeating the True Sith. Following the clues left behind and
reconstructing the device, it was discovered that the device was an
advanced hyperdrive motivator that allowed their ships to travel the
vast dead zone between galaxies within an instant. Searching through
the ancient records of the Star Forge, Revan's Sith uncovered a
location, imbedded in one of the final military records of the
Rakatan Infinite Empire. It simply told of a strange structure that
the Rakatans believed to be the source of their enemies terrible
weapons.

It was inevitable that
curiosity would win out over and that Darth Revan would go himself,
with his friend and apprentice, Darth Malak at his side to seek out
this weapon. This weapon that could end all wars. This superweapon
that would keep all the worlds of their galaxy and all the races at
peace for fear of annihilation.

Of course, where there is
evil, there can also be good. The Jedi, sometimes being the only
line of defense against Revan's Sith moved quickly to counter their
former comrades and though they paid a high price, stemmed the tide
of the Sith's endless fleet. Battle Meditation, a technique in the
Force that allowed a single Force user to sap the will of their foes
while bringing confidence and unity to their own, seemed to turn the
tide against Revan's war-hardened Sith, all veterans of the
Mandalorian wars but then, all Republic soldiers were veterans of the
Mandalorian wars. The Jedi had chosen to stay out of the bloody war,
which some believed was the reason Revan and the Jedi that followed
him turned and fell to the darkside of the Force but it was unknown
to the Jedi how truly far Revan's plans extended.

Perhaps it was madness or
perhaps genius but Revan had a vision to reform the galaxy under a
single banner, so they could stand against any threat to befall them
as they had the Mandalorians. The victory over the Mandalorians
could hardly be called a victory. An entire world was destroyed
along with millions of lives and in the end all that had done was
destroy the Republic forces alongside the Mandalorians. Revan wanted
that to change and an Empire under a single ruler who held the weaker
ones to his will through fear was the quickest solution. Perhaps not
the most morally good solution but it was the quickest and Revan
needed unity if he was to stand against the True Sith.

Over the first year of the
Jedi Civil War as it became known, the Republic send dozens of
assassins and battle groups to destroy Revan, all of course
succumbing to Revan's power or his massive fleet. By the second year
the only hope for the Republic had been the Jedi Order, who had lost
many of its younger generation to the Mandalorian wars. In fact not
even a tenth of those that had gone with Revan to fight the
Mandalorians had survived to turn on the Republic and only one had
chosen to return to the Order, only to be turned away and Exiled.

The Jedi arranged several
attempts to capture Revan themselves but most were quickly called off
due to the overwhelming number of Sith ships. The only opening for
the Jedi would either have to be a full scale battle, or when Revan
was at his most exposed. Spies on dozens of worlds told that Revan
and Malak were seen frequently arguing with one another over battle
plans and the morality of their war. Malak couldn't stomach the war
it seemed and if Revan lost his once strongest supporter, the new
Sith Order would crumble. On Rhen Var, the opportunity for the Jedi
to capture Revan and Malak would come. Revan had ordered nearly four
fifths of his fleet to move on the Republic under the command of his
second in command, Malak. Malak of course sent the fleet back to the
Star Forge and chose to confront Revan on Rhen Var. Rarely did Revan
send a battle group ahead of his own ship, Revan loved and loathed
being in the heart of battle but he often said that leaders should
lead by example.

Of course neither of the
Sith Lords know the Republic was staging a full scale attack on their
position and while still outnumbered, the Republic had a significant
advantage in the form of a young Jedi Padawan who's abnormally strong
connection to the Force gave her a phenomenal control over Battle
Meditation.

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